Protectors of Emerald City

Loving the Heat

Baby don't burn me

24

JAN/16

In the confusion of the tunnel flood in our last episode, the Croc was able to get away. K12 and Hoenheim went off down the sewers in the direction they thought the Croc might have went, and found an opening broken in the sewer bars leading to the ocean. The amphibious Croc had escaped.

Our heroes returned to Alexis and informed her of the dangers that dwelled in the sewers. They presented her with the evidence that had been gathered (sewer worker’s torn clothes, and Witch’s postcognitive visions). Outside town hall was Fred, running around in circles, waving his arms, and screeching. It seemed that nothing could be done to communicate with him, but Witch ran around in circles behind him, also waving her arms and screeching, before everyone headed into the City Hall. Our heroes warned Alexis that as they’d naught been able to dissolve the threat, safety measures ought to be taken by the Sanitation Department and co. Thus ended the tale of the killer Croc… for now.

With the Croc gone, our heroes decided to follow the lead they had been given about the disappearance of a miner at Blackrock Mountain. They decided to go by vehicle, taking the Mystery Machine. Along the way Hoenheim put on the song “What is Love”, but he never turned it off and kept it on loop. The rest of the group was forced to listen to it the entire way (but admittedly, they seemed to enjoy it).

Up at the Blackrock Mining Facility, Hoenheim and Dr Tau stayed in the van listening to “What is Love” while K12 and Witch went in to speak to Foreman Fred about the problem. However they had been lied to, Foreman Fred was no Foreman at all, he was in fact the Director of Operations at the Blackrock Facility. He had once been a Foreman and so the name had stuck. Foreman Fred explained (sniffling all the way) that Miner Mike had gone missing while looking for new mineral deposits. It turned out Miner Mike as not a miner at all, but a spelunker.

The group, along with Foreman Fred, went over to gather any information they could at Miner Mike’s quarters. Hoenheim took some of Mike’s clothes to track his scent. One of our heroes found a rock sample that Foreman Fred was able to use to narrow down where Miner Mike could have gone.

The group went into the mining tunnels all the way to the point where Foreman Fred said Miner Mike had probably gone. Hoenheim was able to pick up the scent and the four descended deeper into the tunnels far past where any mining activity had taken place.

They eventually came upon a steeply descending tunnel, steep enough that it required cautious climbing in order to navigate. At the bottom of this tunnel they felt a sharp increase in temperature as if they were nearing the actively molten part of the active volcano. K12 was able to manipulate the temperature around them to keep it cool enough and avoid any damage.

As they followed the spelunker’s trail they eventually came to a large cavern with a pool of lava at its center. Miner Mike’s trail led towards the pool before abruptly ending in the cavern. Our heroes looked around for anything that might explain Miner Mike’s disappearance, noticing a strange group of rocks at the center of the lava pool. From the distance, Doctor Tau thought this might be the rock that they found in Miner Mike’s quarters!

Doctor Tau opened a portal to the rock, and quickly realized that this was no rock at all, but scales! Unexpectedly, the long neck of a dragon-like beast emerged from the scalding lava, screeching in dismay at our heroes. It apparently did not like the cold touch of K12’s powers through Tau’s portal, which was quickly closed. Witch was able to use her animal empathy to apologize to the beast, which did not immediately eat them. In this time, they were able to escape the mountain through Tau’s portals.

Having presumably discovered what had killed Mike, they went back and informed Foreman Fred who seemed intent on destroying the creature using cold. Apparently Foreman Fred couldn’t understand that the Dragon hated cold in a “I’m angry and will kill you” kind of way and not a “oh no I’m melting! bleh! dead” kind of way. K12 was able to intimidate Foreman Fred away from doing this incredibly stupid thing. For now.

After their business was wrapped up the group returned to their vehicle only to discover that numerous miners and moose were hovering around listening to “What is Love” as Hoenheim had left the car open and turned on before he left. Shooing the crowd away, the Protectors reacquired their vehicle and drove back to Town Hall where they informed Alexis of the situation at Blackrock. This time they listened to a different song along the road.

What will happen next? Will Foreman Fred do something stupid, despite K12’s intimidation? Where did the Croc go anyways? Did we ever even talk to Mukla about how his powers didn’t work on K12? Where are all these super powered animals coming from? Is there Adamantite in Blackrock Mountain? Find out the answers to these questions, or maybe some different ones, next time on Protectors of Emerald City!